Needlework coat of arms (Embroidered hatchment)

Description

This embroidered hatchment shows the arms of the Hall family only, which was worked by Hannah Hall of New Haven about 1730-1740 after marrying Thomas Fitch. Hannah and Thomas had many children prior to Thomas becoming the Governor of Connecticut in 1754. Mysteriously, in 1773, another very similar embroidered hatchment was found by Captain Nicholas Johnson of Newburyport in the cabin of a deserted ship drifting along the New England coast. However, unlike Hannah's embroidered piece, this hatchment displays the Fitch-Hall coat of arms, with Fitch impaling Hall. It is likely that the Fitch-Hall hatchment was worked at about 1770 by one of Hannah and Thomas' daughters who were known to attend the Misses Cuming School in Boston. It is not clear how a daughter's hatchment came to be on the deserted ship, what the exact name of that ship was, and where it was bound. The embroidered Fitch-Hall coat of arms, collected by Captain Johnson, later descended to a member of his family.